Internalized Colonialism & Lateral Oppression

“With lateral violence, the oppressed become the oppressors. We’ve internalised the pain of colonisation and our oppression and we’ve taken it into our communities.”

— Allen Benson, CEO Native Counselling Services Of Alberta, Canada

Hi Friends!
Welcome to Issue 25 of this newsletter! Today’s topic is Internalized Colonialism & Lateral Oppression. I know, it’s a mouthful. After doing more research, I felt like I had to include both terms in the title. I think you’ll understand why. Lateral oppression, or lateral violence, is displaced violence directed against one’s peers rather than adversaries. This construct is one way of explaining violence between marginalized groups. It is a cycle of abuse and its roots lie in factors such as: colonisation, oppression, intergenerational trauma and the ongoing experiences of racism and discrimination. Internalized colonialism, or internalized oppression, is a concept in which an oppressed group uses the methods of the oppressor against itself. It occurs when one group perceives an inequality of value relative to another group, and desires to be like the more highly-valued group. Ultimately, these are a lot of terms that mean similar things—we’re talking about the concept of marginalized folks being oppressed and, in turn, oppressing those around them, and themselves.

A Note: After this week’s tragedy, where Asian-American women were targeted and murdered by a white man in Georgia, I would be remiss if I didn’t also take today’s newsletter as an opportunity to spread awareness and resources on the anti-Asian violence that has been more prominent than ever during the pandemic. I’ll be closing with those thoughts, but also encourage you to read my past newsletter on Anti-Asian Violence During COVID.

Let’s get into it.

Key Terms

Internalized Racism/ Internalized Oppression/ Internalized Colonialism: Internalized racism can be defined as the tendency of some individuals belonging to historically oppressed ethnic groups to regularly invalidate, demean, and/or suppress their own and other marginalized groups’ heritage, identity, self-worth, and human rights. Often, those with degrees of internalized racism are consciously or unconsciously socialized into believing that being a member of their own cultural group is somehow “lesser,” “inferior,” “shameful,” “undesirable,” or “unacceptable” in relation to the “mainstream” dominant culture. They regard themselves and/or members of their own cultural group with embarrassment (self-rejection) and disdain (self-loathing).

Lateral Violence/ Lateral Oppression: Displaced violence directed against one’s peers rather than oppressors. This construct is one way of explaining violence between marginalized groups. It is a cycle of abuse and its roots lie in factors such as: colonisation, oppression, intergenerational trauma and the ongoing experiences of racism and discrimination. It can also be described as, organized, harmful behaviors that we do to each other collectively as part of an oppressed group, within our families, within our organizations and within our communities.

Horizontal Aggression: The results of people of targeted racial groups (Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native) believing, acting on or enforcing the dominant (White) system of racist discrimination and oppression. Horizontal aggression can occur between members of the same racial group or between members of different, targeted racial groups.

“Black-On-Black Crime”: When a white person commits a crime against another white person, it’s just called a crime; race isn’t a factor, and that’s intentional. Using language like “Black-on-Black crime” perpetuates the myth that intraracial violence is specific to the Black community — a myth that implies Black people are inherently more violent. This tactic has been used to justify the mistreatment of Black people since the abolishment of slavery. This term originated during the race riots in the USA in the late 1960s. The earliest record I can find of it in print is this piece from The Chicago Daily Defender, March 1968: "The violence of black man stabbing black man, mugging black man stomping black man, raping black woman. Black on black. And a black crime against a black gets cancelled out in the mind of a white precinct commander."

Intergenerational Trauma: Multiple generations of families can transmit the damage of trauma throughout the years. Where trauma has been untreated, what is fairly common is that the untreated trauma in the parent is transmitted through the child through the attachment bond and through the messaging about self and the world, safety, and danger. Less visibly, intergenerational trauma also plays out in neglect and in the internal resources children gain or don’t gain as a result of their parents.

Let’s Get Into It

What Is It?

Now, what lateral oppression is not is “Black-On-Black Crime.” Not only because it’s a politicized term that’s misleading and gross, but because it’s more nuanced than that, which is why we’re talking about lateral oppression and internalized colonialism at the same time. Racism and discrimination cause internalized colonialism, which results in lateral oppression between marginalized folks in shared communities.

“One of the consequences of oppression and historical trauma is lateral violence. Lateral violence happens when people who are victims of dominance, turn on each other rather than confront the system oppressing them. Lateral violence occurs when oppressed groups or individuals internalize feelings, such as anger and rage, and manifest them through other behaviors, such as gossip, jealousy, putdowns, and blame. Adult bullying behavior can also be a manifestation of lateral violence. In addition to raising awareness about youth bullying, communities may also want to raise awareness about lateral violence, its relationship to historical trauma, and steps people can take to counteract it.” (SAMHSA)

Let’s Break It Down

• Who Is Effected:

  • Lateral violence is especially prevalent in the Native American communities in the United States, and Aboriginal and Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia. “Lateral violence has impacted indigenous peoples throughout the world to the point of where we harm each other in our communities and workplaces on a daily basis.” (Rod Jeffries)

  • Other communities experience lateral oppression as well. Though there is minimal research on this topic outside of Indigenous communities, there are various opinion pieces and lived experiences that demonstrate lateral violence is prevalent amongst many groups.

• How Common Is It:

  • In Australia, surveys have reported that up to 95% of Aboriginal youth had witnessed lateral violence in the home, and that 95% of the bullying experienced by Aboriginals was perpetrated by other Aboriginals.

• Why Does It Happen:

  • In Canada, lateral violence in the workplace is seen as a crisis. With one source stating: “Lateral violence is a learned behaviour as a result of colonialism and patriarchal methods of governing and developing a society. For Aboriginal people, this has meant that due to residential schools, discrimination and racism; Aboriginal people were forced to stop practicing their traditional teachings of oneness. As a result of this trauma, some Aboriginal people have developed social skills and work practices which do not necessary create healthy workplaces or communities. Since many Aboriginal people work in environments which may be predominantly Aboriginal, these practices mean that Aboriginal people are now causing pain and suffering on their own people.” (NWAC)

  • These behaviors are passed down through generations, like most intergenerational trauma. They are learned from the oppressor initially but are also learned from family and friends and the community as they become a part of the social norms—like racism or discrimination.

• What Does It Look Like:

  • Lateral oppression can look like bullying, harassment, misogyny, gossip, finger pointing, domestic violence or abuse. There are many individual motivating factors, but consistently it is enacted by someone who has been oppressed themselves.

  • In 1970, when a Black man was asked why he “robbed and beat up [other] black people,” he explained that he “commits crimes against other African Americans because that’s who lives around him—and that’s what police will let him get away with”. This also adds another layer to the conversation about communities of color often being removed from white communities and how that might impact the enactment of lateral violence.

Final Thoughts

Initially when I saw the term “Lateral Oppression,” which led me to want to know more, it was used in a context to describe homophobia in the Black community. Based on my research, the term has not historically been used in that context—to talk about homophobia in the Black community or sexism in the AAPI community or colorism in the Latinx community—but it definitely seems applicable. If lateral oppression’s definition is “displaced violence directed against one’s peers rather than oppressors,” than it makes sense to use it in that context, and perhaps, like all language, it will continue to evolve until it is used that way more commonly. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

A Note On Anti-Asian Violence

Asian Americans reported more than 2,800 first-hand accounts of hate crimes between late March and December 2020, everything ranging from being coughed and spat on to having “kung flu” shouted at them in grocery stores. Most recently, 8 people lost their lives when a white man attacked Asian-owned businesses in Georgia. 6 of them were Asian.

White supremacy has long created divides between marginalized communities, but we know liberation is only possible when we all work together. It’s imperative that all people of color stand in solidarity with the AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) community right now, just as it has always been crucial that all people of color support the Black community—something that was widely discussed during the Black Lives Matter protests. Ultimately, the pandemic has exposed the cracks in America’s society, bringing forth the layers of systemic racism and legacies of injustice that many Americans have chosen not to pay attention to until now. And it’s not only up to Black and AAPI communities to do the work of building solidarity — it’s the responsibility of all Americans to understand the role that white supremacy has played in creating these rifts that are exploited again and again. Learn more about the history of tensions and solidarity between the Black and AAPI communities here, and remember that it’s not the responsibility of the oppressed to teach and forgive the oppressor, it is the responsibility of all those who benefit from white supremacy to dismantle it. Though solidarity amongst BIPOC folks is necessary, allyship from white folks is essential.

Next week, it’s another personal newsletter drop coming at your inbox! I love to share more personal insights every now and then and hope you guys like to read them! I’ll see ya there!

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for, we are the change we seek” — With love and light, Taylor Rae